This is where the adventure begins!
DHB Inc/Black Elk Outfitters Ltd. (Colo.Lic.#1313) offers trespass fee hunts on private, Colorado Ranches. We also offer Texas Hog Hunts on ranches near Amarillo, Texas.
This site was last updated on 06-06-09 at 1005 hrs.
2009 marks our 24th year of serving hunters from all over the world. We hope we can be of service to you. With Colorado having the largest elk herd in the United States it's not hard to understand why many of our hunters return year after year. It also explains why we book up so early in the year.
The results for the Limited licenses drawing are now posted on the CDOW website. This includes all antelope, bear, deer and limited elk including muzzle loading. If you have hunts reserved which require these licenses contact us ASAP with your results. The left over list for these licenses should be out in mid July and left overs will go on sale August 11.
The 2008 season was not very good. Our stats were down 14 points for the rifle seasons and down 8 points for the archery seasons. The elk were just not on the ranches consistantly. When they were on the ranches they tended to be in the darkest timber they could find. This year the dark timber held good feed and water. It seemed that for the most part the elk were in constant motion, never in the same spot, or in one spot for long. This was the case on all of the ranches. Elk rut was never what I would call full blown. The bulls were bugling from the early archery season until the end of the 4th rifle. We did kill a couple of magnificent bulls in the rifle seasons, but they were traveling alone and neither were scarred up by fighting. These bulls were to big to be satellite bulls. The 2nd season at the Buffalo Pass was an excellent week with 7 hunters killing 5 elk, 4 of which were bulls. On the Indian Creek we only killed one cow elk prior to the 2nd rifle season. Then in the 4th season we went 70% on elk, which all came onto the ranch from the forest. Bears were scarce, though we had seen a good number of them on the trail cams on the Coyte in June and July. On Indian Creek we only saw 3 and one of those was on the last day of the 4th season. PLO on the Coyte was a bust. Early deer season was a good hunt but the bucks were smaller than in the past. Blackpowder was off by not quite half. But all blackpowder elk were bulls. The antelope rifle season was a "gimme" with a 100% success rate. The moose hunters (we had 2) went 50%, with one killing his the second day and the other hunting the entire season without seeing a cow. On the stats page you can compare 2008 with 2007. I was afraid that 2008 was going to be like 2006 but we did better than that.
The CDOW now has the stats for the 2008 seasons posted on their website. Just a brief rundown for elk looks like this. The state wide success rate for elk for all methods of take was 20% and 22% for rifle only. For the units we hunt in it was it was 18% in Unit 16 (Coyte and Buffalo Pass), 17% in Unit 17 (Trownsell and 1/2 of Indian Creek), and 13% in Unit 181 (the west 1/2 of Indian Creek), these are for rifle. For the ranches our rifle success rates were Unit 16, Coyte Ranch 21.78% and Buffalo Pass 30.67%; Unit 17 and 181, Trownsell 0% and Indian Creek 36.48%. If you want to break down the stats further go to the CDOW web site, click on hunting, then Big Game, and then on Statistics. The small print will kill you. Long story short, our success rates were even to 16 points higher than the state average for rifle and the archery rates were 7 to 21 points higher than the unit averages. Also included are the post season elk count numbers. Supposedly the Nort Park Units had 9,520 elk after the 2008 season and Unit 18/181 had 3,900.
For 2009 the season structure will be the same as 2008. There will be 4 rifle seasons for elk as before, but the 1st and 4th seasons will be by drawing or on left over licenses. The 2nd and 3rd seasons will be combined elk and deer seasons with bull elk being unlimited, deer by drawing. During the combined seasons bull elk licenses will be unlimited in the areas we hunt. All deer licenses for all methods of take are by drawing. Deer seasons are concurrent with the elk seasons, except for the Early Deer season which is the 1st week in October. The 2009 season dates are posted on our ranch pages. The application deadline for all limited licenses, elk (1st and 4th season bull or either sex, cow elk and PLO cows), deer, antelope, and moose is April 7, 2009. In our areas there are always left over licenses available for the 1st and 4th rifle seasons as well as left over cow elk licenses. These left over licenses go on sale on August 11 in person or by phone and online the next day. We can purchase these licenses for you or they can be bought online. Feel free to contact us about this option for hunting this year.
License fees for non-residents are as follows in 2009. Bull elk and either sex elk licenses are $546. Cow elk are $251. Antelope and deer are $326. Bear are the same as 2008 at $251. Archery bear licenses and bear licenses for the 4 regular rifle seasons are over the counter with a cap. These bear licenses go on sale on July 14 and are first come first serve. These licenses are available by phone, on-line, and in person.
Our ranches for 2009 will be the Coyte, Indian Creek, Buffalo Pass, and Trownsell. All of our hunts are 7 days long except for the 1st and 4th rifle which are 5 day seasons. Please note that Black Elk Outfitters Ltd. offers neither guided nor outfitted hunts.
All elk/deer hunts on the Coyte, Indian Creek, and Trownsell Ranches will be $950 for the archery hunts and for the first three rifle seasons. 4th rifle seasons on theses ranches will be $750. Buffalo Pass will be $850 per hunter, archery or rifle.
Black powder hunts in 2009 will be on the Indian Creek and Trownsell Ranches (combined). This hunt will be September 12-18. The cost is $950 per hunter and all licenses are by drawing.
We will offer 4 Early Deer hunts on the Indian Creek/Trownsell (Unit 17) and on the Coyte (Unit 16) September 28--October 4. These licenses are by drawing and the hunt fee is $850 per hunter.
Our ranches are all located near Walden, Colorado. This is the North Park area of Colorado, about 165 miles northwest of Denver and 40 miles east of Steamboat Springs. All of the ranches are primarily elk ranches but we do take some very nice deer every year. All of the ranches have a camping area with some type of sanitary facility. Drinking water is not available on 4 of the ranches and must be brought in by the hunter, clean up water is generally available on the ranch. All of the ranches require a 4wd vehicle to get around the ranch with. ATC's and ATV's are allowed but are under the same restrictions as motor vehicles. NO HORSES are allowed on any of the ranches. All of the ranches are working cattle ranches so they do have cattle out during the seasons. The ranches are staffed by our personnel to handle any problems and to provide 1st responder assistance in case of an emergency. These staff people are nearly all hunters who have hunted the ranches for years, most of them are law enforcement officers, either active or retired. They will help you with any questions or concerns you might have while on the ranch. These staffers are not guides and will not provide any services beyond those listed above. Staffers may or may not be hunting during their time on the ranch.
Additional services such as groceries, gas, motels, car rentals, meat processing, and airline transportation can be obtained in Steamboat Springs. Except for car rentals, airlines, and medical attention these same services can be obtained in Walden, which is about 25 miles from the ranches.
